ISLAMABAD: The National Security Staff Senior Director for International Economics, David Lipton on Wednesday met with Finance Minister Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh and discussed with him the state of Pakistan's economy and the future of the stabilisation programme.

According a statement issued by the Ministry of Finance, the discussions focused on how the two sides could best work together to stabilise Pakistan's economy and create expanded employment opportunities. The minister updated the US side on Pakistan's 2010-11 budget and its on-going economic reforms.

Both sides agreed on the importance of making sure that the US assistance supports mutually-agreed priorities in the areas of energy security, food security, and human development. They also agreed to continue working together in the future. The two sides discussed options to reach sustainable fiscal deficit targets as well as means to increase government revenues.

The meeting took note of the need to bring structural changes to improve the performance of public sector enterprises, and reduce inefficient subsidies, while effectively targeting government resources to benefit Pakistan's people most in need.

The two sides agreed that this productive exchange builds on earlier visits to Islamabad by David Lipton, Deputy Secretary of the Treasury, Neal Wolin, and Deputy Secretary of State Jacob Lew, and to Washington by the Federal Minister for Finance. This series of meetings follows the joint commitment of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Foreign Minister Shah Makhdoom Qureshi for continued high-level engagement on economics and finance in the bilateral strategic dialogues.-PR